Portable handheld edge cutters are known and essentially comprise a drive motor, a rotating knife and a drive shaft between the motor and the knife. The knife end of the drive shaft is received in a support which is structurally part of a housing overlapping the knife. The housing covers the knife over a specific angle of the peripheral path A wheel is journalled on the housing so that the edge cutter can be guided rolling on the ground.
The housing covers the knife precisely in that angular range which faces toward the operator. For this reason, the exact position of the knife cannot be recognized so that a precise cut edge cannot be made spontaneously. A further disadvantage with respect to the known arrangement is that the wheel always is mounted at a specific location and therefore the particular advantageous conditions of the different lawn edges cannot be considered. The rapid rotation of the knife during work with the portable handheld edge cutter causes small stones, grains of sand and pieces of vegetation and the like to be flung away. The direction in which this debris is flung is toward the operator because of the rotational direction of the knife.